Circuit board and radiating heat system for circuit board

ABSTRACT

In the a circuit board, a plurality of conductive layer regions coated with a conductor are separately formed on both sides of an insulating substrate, the conductive layer region formed on either side of an insulating region on each of the both sides of the insulating substrate. The plurality of the conductive layer regions include a plurality of through holes which penetrate through the insulating substrate and are coated with a conductor over an inner wall, the conductor in the through hole electrically conducts the coated conductor of the plurality of the conductive layer regions, one of the lead pins is connected to one of the separated conductive layer regions on the both sides based on the insulating region, and the other lead pin is connected to the other conductive layer region.

REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This is a divisional of pending U.S. patent application Ser. No.12/162,740 filed on Jul. 30, 2008, the entire contents of which areincorporated herein by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention generally relates to a circuit board having a heatradiating structure. More particularly, the present invention relates toa circuit board having a heat radiating structure for effectivelyradiating heat produced from components

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Typically, a number of components are mounted on a circuit board. Whenpower is supplied, the components operate and produce heat. If thegenerated heat is not radiated, the components are subject to themalfunction and the damage due to the heat. Particularly, light emittingcomponents such as LED, which produce a great deal of heat than othercomponents, are subject to the severe heat damage compared to othercomponents.

FIG. 1 is a cross section view of a conventional circuit board having anLED, and FIG. 2 is a plane view of the circuit board of FIG. 1.

The circuit board includes an insulating substrate 4, and conductivepatterns 8 and 9 which are formed in upper and lower sides (hereafter,referred to as both sides). The circuit board has through holes wherethe LED is mounted. Eyelets 5 and 6 in sleeve shape are disposed in thethrough holes.

The LED mounted in the circuit board includes an LED body 1, and a pairof lead pins 2 and 3 protruding below the LED body 1. The lead pins 2and 3 are mounted through the through holes of the circuit board andelectrically connected to the conductive patterns by means of soldering.Power is supplied to the LED mounted in the circuit board through theconductive patterns 8 and 9, to thus turn on the LED and emit the light.

As radiating, the LED produces a great deal of heat. Thus, if the heatis not exhausted to outside, the heat may attenuate the brightness ofthe LED and shorten the life span of the LED.

To prevent the malfunction and the lifespan reduction of the componentsmounted in the circuit board, the heat produced by the components shouldbe dissipated. In particular, a radiating structure is essential to theheat producing component such as LED.

To respond to this, the conventional methods mostly radiate the heat tooutside by mounting a separate heat sink on the circuit board. However,the radiation effect does not meet the expectations because the heat isnot effectively radiated merely by

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Technical Problem

An aspect of the present invention has been provided to solve theabove-mentioned and/or other problems and disadvantages and an aspect ofthe present invention provides a circuit board and a heat radiatingsystem of the circuit board, which can effectively radiate heat producedfrom components.

Technical Solution

According to an aspect of the present invented, a circuit board ismounted with an electronic component having two power supply lead pins,wherein a plurality of conductive layer regions coated with a conductorarc separately formed on both sides of an insulating substrate, theconductive layer regions formed on either side of an insulating regionon each of the both sides of the insulating substrate of the circuitboard, the plurality of the conductive layer regions include a pluralityof through holes which penetrate through the insulating substrate andare coated with a conductor over an inner wall, the conductor in thethrough holes eclectically conducts the coated conductor of theplurality of the conductive layer regions, one of the lead pins isconnected to one of the separated conductive layer regions on the bothsides based on the insulating region, and the other lead pin isconnected to the other conductive layer region.

A material of the conductor coated in the through holes may be the samematerial coated in the plurality of the conductive layer regions.

A radiating pin may be inserted each through hole to which the lead pinis not inserted.

The electronic component may be a light-emitting diode (LED).

According to another aspect of the present invention, a circuit boardincludes an upper insulating region which is formed on an upper side ofan insulating region to insulate electricity; a first conductive layerregion and a second conductive layer region which are separately formedon both sides of the upper insulating region and coated with aconductor; a lower insulating region which is formed on a lower side ofthe insulating substrate to insulate electricity; a third conductivelayer region and a fourth conductive layer region which are formedseparately on both sides of the lower insulating region and coated witha conductor, the third conductive layer region facing the firstconductive layer region and the fourth conductive layer region facingthe second conductive layer region; and a plurality of the through holeswhich penetrate the insulating substrate and are coated with a conductorin inner wall to electrically conduct the first conductive layer regionwith third conductive layer region and the second conductive layerregion with the forth conductive layer region

According to yet another aspect of the present invention, a heatradiating system of a circuit board includes the circuit board whichcomprises a plurality of conductive layer regions formed by coating bothsides of an insulating substrate with a conductor, and a pluralityof-the through holes formed by penetrating the insulating substrate inthe conductive layer regions and coated with a conductor on an innerwall; a radiating pad which adheres to one side of the circuit board andreceives heat from the circuit board, the radiating pad formed of aninsulator; and a heat sink which is coupled to the radiating pad andreceives and exhausts the heat of the circuit board from the radiatingpad to outside, the heat sink formed of a metal.

The radiating pad may be formed of a silicon.

The heat sink may include a heat sink body which is formed in a plateshape and adheres to the radiating pad, and a fixing arm which is formedin a hook shape along a circumference of the heat sink body to securethe radiating pad with the circuit board.

A radiating groove may be depressed lengthwise in one direction of theheat sink body in one side of the heat sink body, the one side facingthe radiating pad, and a plurality of the radiating grooves may beformed at intervals in the other direction of the heat sink body.

A radiating rib may protrude lengthwise in one direction of the heatsink body in the other side of the heat sink body, and a plurality ofthe radiating ribs may be formed at intervals in the other direction ofthe heat sink body.

The fixing arm may bend toward the radiating pad from the circumferenceof the heat sink body and bend toward a center of the heat sink body.

Advantageous Effects

Since the heat radiation of the circuit board is effectively carriedout, component malfunction, lifespan reduction, power consumptionincrease, and illuminance drop can be prevented.

Although a few embodiments of the present invention have been shown anddescribed, it would be appreciated by those skilled in the art thatchanges may be made in these embodiments without departing from theprinciples and spirit of the invention, the scope of which is defined inthe claims and their equivalents.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a cross section view of a conventional circuit board with anLED mounted, and FIG. 2 is a plane view of the circuit board of FIG. 1.

FIG. 2 is a plane view of the circuit board of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a cross section view of a circuit board with an LED mountedaccording to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a plane view of the circuit board of FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 is a plane view of a comparison circuit board.

FIG. 6 is a plane view of an experimental circuit board according to thepresent invention.

FIG. 7 is a graph showing time based temperature variation of thecomparison object and the experimental object.

FIG. 8 is a graph showing current variation of the comparison object andthe experimental object.

FIG. 9 is a graph showing illuminance variation of high-brightness LEDsmounted to the comparison object and the experimental object.

FIG. 10 is a plane view of a circuit board according to a secondembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a cross section view of a circuit board according to a thirdembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 12 is a plane view of FIG. 11.

FIG. 13 is a cross section view of a circuit board heat radiating systemaccording to a fourth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 14 is a perspective view of the heat sink of FIG. 13.

FIG. 15 is a perspective view of a circuit board with a radiating padand a heat sink mounted.

FIG. 16 is a side cross section view of FIG. 15.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Best Mode for Carrying Out theInvention

The embodiments are described below in order to explain the presentinvention by referring to the figures.

FIG. 3 is a cross section view of a circuit board with an LED mountedaccording to a first embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 4 isa plane view of the circuit board of FIG. 3. FIG. 3 is a cross sectionview of the circuit board with the mounted LED, taken along the line ANin FIG. 4.

In the first embodiment of the present invention, a high-brightness LED10 is illustrated as a component mounted on the circuit board 15. Thehigh-brightness LED 10 includes an LED body 11, and a pair of lead pins12 and 13 drawing out from the LED body 11.

The circuit board 15 includes an insulating substrate 20, and a pair ofconductive layer regions 30 and 40 that are formed by symmetricallycoating with a conductor in both sides (or upper and lower sides) of theinsulating substrate 20. The conductive layer regions 30 and 40 areseparated from each other across an insulating region 50 not coated witha conductor. Herein, a plurality of the through holes 55 are formed ineach of the conductive layer regions 30 and 40. An inner wall of thethrough holes 55 is coated with the same material as the conductorforming the conductive layer. By virtue of the conductor coated on theinner wall of the through holes 55, the conductive layer regions 30 and40 formed on the both sides of the insulating substrate 20 areelectrically connected to each other.

The conductor is coated on the inner wall of the through holes 55 whilethe conductive layer is coated. The through holes 55 serves to not onlyeclectically connect the conductive layer regions in the both sides ofthe insulating substrate 20 but also transfer the heat produced from thecomponent.

To mount the light-brightness LED 10 on the circuit board, the pair ofthe lead pins and 13 of the high-brightness LED 10 is first inserted tothe through holes 55 formed in the different conductive layer regions 30and 40. The inserted lead pins 12 and 13 are soldered and fixed. Next,when power is supplied to the conductive layer regions 30 and 40, thehigh-brightness LED 10 is powered on to emit the light.

As radiating, the high-brightness LED 10 produces heat. The producedheat is transferred and radiated along the conductive layer regions 30and 40 and along the conductor in the through holes 55 at the same time.At this time, since the surface area of the conductive layer regionincreases thanks to the conductor in the through holes 55, the area ofthe heat radiation also increases. As a result, the increased surfacearea of the heat radiation raises the radiation effect.

FIG. 5 is a plane view of a comparison circuit board, and FIG. 6 is aplane view of an experimental circuit board according to the presentinvention.

The comparison circuit board in FIG. 5 is used to prove the radiationeffect of the circuit board of the present invention by comparison, andthe experimental circuit board is the circuit board according to thepresent invention. The comparison circuit board and the experimentalcircuit board both are 20 cm in width, 30 cm in length, and 1.8 mm inthickness. The width of the conductive pattern of the comparison circuitboard is 2 mm. The experimental circuit board has two conductive layerregions, of which size is 8 mm and 11 mm respectively. Six through holes55 are formed in each conductive layer region. Diameter of the throughholes 55 is 1 mm.

The high-brightness LED used for the test is Toyoda Gosei's product(Japan), of which the rated voltage is DC 3.4V, the rated current is 70mA, and the lower diameter of the LED body is 3 mm. The lead pins of thehigh-brightness LED pass through two through holes formed in the portionindicated by the dotted circuit in FIG. 6 and then are fixed by thesoldering.

FIG. 7 is a graph showing time based temperature variation of thecomparison object and the experimental object, which is tabulated asTable 1.

As shown in FIG. 7 and Table 1, after the high-brightness LED is turnedon, the temperature of the circuit board increase as the time passes by.After 10 minutes, the temperature of the comparison object ranges27.60.about.27.80.degree. C., whereas the temperature of the presentcircuit board ranges 24.20.about.24.60.degree. C. Hence, the circuitboard of the present invention, which has the lower temperature than therelated art by about 3.20.about.3.40.degree. C., can enhance theradiation effect.

TABLE 1 Temperature (° C. ) Time elapse (min) Comparison Experiment 017.40 17.40 1 20.60 20.40 2 23.40 21.80 3 25.20 22.80 4 26.20 23.40 526.80 23.60 6 27.20 23.80 7 27.40 23.80 8 27.40 23.90 9 27.60 24.00 1027.60 24.20 11 27.60 24.20 12 27.40 24.20 13 27.60 24.20 14 27.60 24.2015 27.60 24.20 16 27.80 24.40 17 27.80 24.20 18 27.80 24.20 19 27.8024.40 20 27.80 24.20 21 27.60 24.20 22 27.60 24.40 23 27.80 24.40 2427.60 24.20 25 27.60 24.40 26 27.60 24.40 27 27.60 24.40 28 27.80 24.6029 27.80 24.60 30 27.60 24.40

FIG. 8 is a graph showing current variation of the comparison object andthe experimental object, which is tabulated as Table 2.

As shown in FIG. 8 and Table 2, after the high-brightness LED is turnedon, the current consumption increases. After a certain time elapses, thecurrent of the comparison object ranges 78.60.about.78.70 mA, whereasthe current of the experimental object maintains 74.60 mA. That is, whenusing the circuit board of the present invention, the current consumedby the components decreases. As a result, the power consumption lowersand the energy efficiency increases.

TABLE 2 Current (mA) Time elapse (min) Comparison Experiment 0 70.0070.00 1 73.50 72.90 2 75.80 73.90 3 76.90 74.30 4 77.60 74.50 5 77.9074.60 6 78.20 74.70 7 78.30 74.70 8 78.50 74.70 9 78.50 74.70 10 78.6074.70 11 78.60 74.70 12 78.60 74.70 13 78.60 74.70 14 78.70 74.70 1578.70 74.60 16 78.70 74.60 17 78.70 74.60 18 78.70 74.60 19 78.70 74.6020 78.70 74.60 21 78.70 74.60 22 78.70 74.60 23 78.70 74.70 24 78.7074.60 25 78.60 74.60 26 78.70 74.60 27 78.60 74.60 28 78.60 74.60 2978.60 74.60 30 78.70 74.60

FIG. 9 is a graph showing illuminance variation of high-brightness LEDsmounted to the comparison object and the experimental object, which istabulated as Table 3.

As shown in FIG. 9 and Table 3, as time elapses, the illuminance of thecomparison circuit board abruptly decreases by 2.2 lux for 30 minutes,which implies the illuminance decreases by 13% during the initial 30minutes. By contrast, the illuminance of the experimental circuit boarddecreases merely by 0.8 lux for 30 minutes, which corresponds to ⅓ ofthe illuminance decrease of the comparison circuit board. In otherwords, when using the circuit board of the present invention, thelifespan and the performance of the components can be enhanced.

TABLE 3 Illuminance (Lux) Time elapse (min) Comparison Experiment 017.00 17.00 1 16.90 16.90 2 16.50 16.70 3 16.20 16.60 4 16.00 16.60 515.80 16.50 6 15.70 16.50 7 15.60 16.50 8 15.50 16.50 9 15.40 16.40 1015.38 16.40 11 15.35 16.40 12 15.30 16.40 13 15.30 16.40 14 15.25 16.4015 15.20 16.40 16 15.20 16.40 17 15.15 16.40 18 15.10 16.40 19 15.0516.40 20 15.00 16.40 21 15.00 16.30 22 14.95 16.30 23 14.90 16.30 2414.90 16.30 25 14.90 16.30 26 14.88 16.30 27 14.85 16.30 28 14.80 16.3029 14.80 16.20 30 14.80 16.20

Mode for the Invention

FIG. 10 is a plane view of a circuit board according to a secondembodiment of the present invention.

In the circuit board, a plurality of conductive layer regions 30 isformed across an insulating region 50 in both upper and lower sides. Asin the first embodiment of the present invention, a plurality of throughholes 55 are formed in each conductive layer region 30. The inner wallof the through holes 55 is coated with the same conductor as theconductor coated over the conductive layer region 30.

Components are mounted on the circuit board to interconnect theneighboring conductive layer regions 30. When the power is supplied, thecomponents start to operate.

FIG. 11 is a cross section view of a circuit board according to a thirdembodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 12 is a plane view of FIG.11. FIG. 11 is a cross section view of the circuit board with the LEDmounted, taken along the line BB′ of FIG. 12.

In the circuit board, a plurality of conductive layer regions 30 isformed in both sides across an insulating region 50, as in the secondembodiment of the present invention. A plurality of through holes 55 and56 are formed in each conductive layer region 30. The inner wall of thethrough holes 55 and 56 is coated with the same conductor as theconductor coated over the conductive layer region 30.

Additionally, the circuit board has radiating pins 90 protrudingdownward by inserting and fixing to the through holes 56 where lead pins61, 62, 71 and 72 of the high-brightness LEDs 60 and 70 are notinserted. Since the radiating pins 90 are electrically and thermallycoupled with the inner wall of the through holes 56 and the conductivelayers on both sides, the heat radiation is effectively performed.

FIG. 13 is a cross section view of a circuit board heat radiating systemaccording to a fourth embodiment of the present invention.

The circuit board heat radiating system includes a circuit board 100having a plurality of the through holes 110, a radiating pad 120attached to one side of the circuit board 100, and a heat sink 130mounted to the outside of the radiating pad 120.

As in the first and second embodiments of the present invention, thecircuit board 100 includes a plurality of conductive layer regions 105formed symmetrically in both sides of the insulating substrate. Aplurality of the through holes 110 is formed in the conductive area 105.The inner wall of the through holes 110 is coated with the sameconductor as in the conductive layer region 105.

Components are mounted on the circuit board 100. In this embodiment, achip LED 115 is mounted thereon. The chip LED 115 includes an LED body116, a LED cover 117, a pair of electrodes 119, and an LED substrate118. Herein, the pair of the electrodes 119 is formed to surround theLED substrate 118. The electrodes 119 are soldered to the surface of thecircuit board 100 so that the chip LED 115 is mounted directly on thesurface of the circuit board 100.

The radiating pad 120 is formed as a plate shape and adhered to one sideof the circuit board 110 where the components are not mounted. Theradiating pad 120 is fabricated using an insulator such as silicon.Accordingly, the radiating pad 120 can avoid the short between theconductive layer regions 105. The radiating pad 120 receives the heat,which is produced by the components, from the circuit board 100. As thethrough holes 110 are formed in the circuit board 100, the heat can bemore efficiently and rapidly transferred to the radiating pad 120 viathe through holes 110. As such, the radiating pad 120 lowers thetemperature of the circuit board 100 by exhausting the heat from thecircuit board 100 to the other side.

The heat sink 130, like the radiating pad 120, is formed in a plateshape and mounted to the exterior of the radiating pad 120. The heatsink 130 can be fabricated using a metal of the fast heat transfer andradiation, for example, using aluminum. FIG. 14 is a perspective view ofthe heat sink of FIG. 13.

The heat sink 130 includes a heat sink body 135 in close contact withthe radiating pad 120, a fixing arm 140 which secures the radiating pad120 and the circuit board 100 along the circumference of the heat sinkbody 135, and a coupling arm 145 which couples the heat sink 130 to thedevice body.

In the side facing the radiating pad 120, the heat sink body 135 has aradiating groove 136 depressed lengthwise along one side of the heatsink body 135. A plurality of the radiating grooves 136 is formed atintervals widthwise in the longitudinal direction. The radiating grooves136 serve to increase the surface area for receiving the heattransferred from the radiating pad 120, to thus enable the fast andefficient heat transfer of the heat sink 130.

In the side facing the coupling arm 145 of the heat sink body 135, aradiating rib 137 is formed which protrudes lengthwise in one directionof the heat sink body 135. A plurality of the radiating ribs 137 isformed at intervals widthwise in its longitudinal direction. Theradiating ribs 137 are formed lengthwise in the same direction of thelongitudinal direction of the radiating grooves 136. The intervalbetween the neighboring radiating ribs 137 may be constant or random.Since the radiating ribs 137 serve to increase the surface area forexhausting the heat transferred from the radiating pad 120 to outside,it enables the rapid heat exhaustion of the heat sink 130.

The fixing arm 140 bends from the circumference of the heat sink body135 toward the side where the radiating groove 136 is formed and bendstoward the center of the heat sink body 135. Preferably, the height ofthe fixing arm 140 from the heat sink body 135 is the sum of the widthsof the radiating pad 120 and the circuit board 100.

The coupling arm 145 extends from the circumference of the heat sinkbody 135 to the opposite direction of the fixing arm 140 and bends itsfree end toward the center of the heat sink body 135. The coupling arm145 functions to secure the circuit board 100, the radiating pad 120,and the heat sink 130 within the device body where the circuit board 100is mounted.

By coupling the radiating pad 120 and the heat sink 130 to the circuitboard 100, the heat produced from the components of the circuit board100 can be radiated efficiently.

FIG. 15 is a perspective view of a circuit board with a radiating padand a heat sink mounted, and FIG. 16 is a side cross section view ofFIG. 15.

On the circuit board 100, a plurality of chip LEDs 115 is arranged in amatrix form at intervals. Between the circuit board 100 and the chip LED115, a reflecting plate 150 is mounted to improve the illuminance byreflecting the light radiated from the chip LED 115. The reflectingplate 150 is formed in a quadrangular pyramid shape. Receding from thecircuit board 100, the width increases.

With the plurality of the chip LEDs 115, the temperature of the circuitboard 100 rises due to the heat produced at the chip LEDs 115. The heattransferred to the circuit board 100 is transferred to the radiating pad120. Next, the heat is transferred to the heat sink 130. Since theradiating groves 130 of the heat sink 130 increase the surface area, thefast heat transfer is achieved. The heat transferred to the heat sink130 is exhausted to outside rapidly by means of the radiating ribs 137of the heat sink 130.

As above, the heat radiating system of the circuit board rapidlyexhausts the heat transferred from the components to the circuit board100, to thus accomplish the efficient heat radiation of the circuitboard 100. Therefore, it is possible not only to prevent the componentsmounted on the circuit board 100 from malfunctioning or reducing thelifespan because of the heat but also to lower the power consumption.Particularly, in case of a light emitting component such as chip LED115, the illuminance drop of the chip LED 115 can be prevented.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY

The present invention is applicable to the electronics industry toeffectively radiate the heat produced from the electronic componentsmounted on the circuit board.

1-5. (canceled)
 6. A heat radiating system of a circuit board,comprising: the circuit board which comprises a plurality of conductivelayer regions formed by coating both sides of an insulating substratewith a conductor, and a plurality of through holes formed by penetratingthe insulating substrate in the conductive layer regions and coated witha conductor on an inner wall; a radiating pad which adheres to one sideof the circuit board and receives heat from the circuit board, theradiating pad formed of an insulator; and a heat sink which is coupledto the radiating pad and receives and exhausts the heat of the circuitboard from the radiating pad to outside, the heat sink formed of ametal.
 7. The heat radiating system of claim 6, wherein the radiatingpad is formed of a silicon.
 8. The heat radiating system of claim 6,wherein the heat sink comprises a heat sink body which is formed in aplate shape and adheres to the radiating pad, and a fixing arm which isformed in a hook shape along a circumference of the heat sink body tosecure the radiating pad with the circuit board.
 9. The heat radiatingsystem of claim 8, wherein a radiating groove is depressed lengthwise inone direction of the heat sink body in one side of the heat sink body,the one side facing the radiating pad, and a plurality of the radiatinggrooves is formed at intervals in the other direction of the heat sinkbody.
 10. The heat radiating system of claim 8, wherein a radiating ribprotrudes lengthwise in one direction of the heat sink body in the otherside of the heat sink body, and a plurality of the radiating ribs isformed at intervals in the other direction of the heat sink body. 11.The heat radiating system of claim 8, wherein the fixing arm bendstoward the radiating pad from the circumference of the heat sink bodyand bends toward a center of the heat sink body.